FLASHBACK to 2009, when York Theatre Royal received an Arts Council grant through its free-ticket-for-young- people scheme, A Night Less Ordinary.

Rather than simply handing out tickets, artistic director Damian Cruden hit on another idea for spending the money: why not let young people take over running the theatre?

TakeOver09 was born, allowing a group of 11 to 26 year olds to programme, market, manage and perform as part of an event billed as “by young people, with young people, for everyone”.

The TakeOver festival was the first of its kind in the country, establishing a model that has since been adopted by theatres nationwide. Here in York, TakeOver 10 opens on Monday, restored to being solely under the Theatre Royal’s mentoring watch after last year’s collaboration/dalliance with York Mediale.

“This festival is all about giving young people experience and, in the nicest sense, hurling them in at the deep end,” says 2019 artistic director Rachel Flannagan, a 21-year-old Londoner who has stayed on in York after completing her University of York degree in theatre, writing, directing and performance. Post-TakeOver, she hopes to do a masters degree in directing.

Carrying out the TakeOver board’s environmental wishes, everything’s gone green for this year’s festival, from productions and marketing to decorations and ticketing, even the colour of the brochure. Oh, and “please recycle this brochure after use”, as it asks on the back.

“Our theme is focusing on the environment and the increasing need to take action and keep the conversation going, in regards to climate change,” says Rachel, who first volunteered at TakeOver two years ago.

“We’ve decided to really make being green our ethos and so though not every show is to do with the environment, the process of bringing the festival has been green conscious. It’s important that in a world where we are able to make and enjoy art, we are also preserving the planet so that others can do the same in the future.”

The Theatre Royal café menu will be vegetarian for the week; Rachel in turn has gone vegan as a green pledge; there will be no roller banners; front-of-house material will be re-cycled. The festival is championing Staging Change, the sustainable theatre initiative for performers and makers determined to make greener theatre, not least by reducing carbon emissions.

“It’s beyond relevant right now,” says Rachel. “This festival is run by young people; the environmental/climate change/green campaign is being run by young people, so it couldn’t be more relevant.”

The festival team decided that rather than dictating that all shows at TakeOver 10 should carry an environmental theme, it was more about making the festival environmentally friendly overall.

That said, there is, pardon the pun, a buzz about the festival in the foyer, with the Beespoon Installation, from 10am to 5pm each day; the Beestory Workshop with bee enthusiast Florence Boyd on Tuesday from 12 noon, and TakeOver Presents: E-Reality?, an education piece for schools on social media and the environment, created by TakeOver associate directors Hannah Stacey and Emily Wilson-Knight, on Tuesday and Friday.

All these are free, and so is Tuesday’s foyer rehearsed reading of University of York alumnus Nick Payne’s Constellations. “Have a cup of tea (on us), and your heart warmed and broken,” says the brochure. “This explosive play is about one relationship and infinite possibilities; free will and friendship; quantum multiverse theory, love and honey.”

Celebrate!, on Wednesday in the main house, brings together five York youth groups, Northern Dance, Door 84, Accessible Arts & Media, North Yorkshire Scouts and the Theatre Royal’s Access All Areas group, who have been working with Hannah Stacey and Emily Wilson-Knight to create performances inspired by environmental messages.

Artist Mim Robson leads a drop-in Autumnal Animals Workshop, making ephemeral animal artworks with autumn leaves on Wednesday afternoon in the foyer. Ex-University of York storyteller Alice Courvoisier celebrates The Wonder Of Trees with a blend of ancient myths, folk tales and a bit of biology on Thursday in the Studio.

Further festival highlights include Sleepless Theatre Company’s exploration of dysfunctional siblings in Laura McCready’s Baby Box, on Monday and Tuesday in The Studio, and Colla Voce Theatre’s You And I, a new comedy musical wherein the world’s first super-intelligent robot starts asking questions about the universe, karaoke, the meaning of porn, love, loss and what it means to be human, in the main house on Monday.

Comedy makes its mark on the TakeOver festival on Friday with Njambi McGrath’s reflection on Brexit, self-identity, empire, loss and nostalgia, Accidental Coconut, in the Studio; Jen Brister’s irreverent look at privilege in Under Privilege in the main house, and The Guilty Feminist host Jessica Fostekew discussing her “big strong strength” in Hench in the main house on Saturday.

The best value ticket is £10 to see all five TakeOver Presents: New Voices, an afternoon of new Yorkshire writing by Logan Jones, Lucy Finnighan, Ashley Milne, Melanie Hopkins and Teastain Theatre, in the Studio on Saturday.

The queens and kings of Yorkshire’s drag collective Haus Of Dench close the festival with the dark cabaret of Drag Queens vs Zombies, a party night of camp horror, lip-synching, glitter, gore and Death Drop in the main house on Saturday.

For the full programme, event times and tickets, go to yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. Box office: 01904 623568.

Charles Hutchinson